Leaf pulverizer



Oct. 3, 1961 R. S. PELTIER LEAF PULVERIZER Filed June 15, 1960 R BY ONALD S. PELTiER' INVENTOR.

United States Patent 3,002,702 LEAF PULVERIZER Ronald S. Peltier, 30 Whitford Ave.,'Providence 8, RJ. Filed June 15, 1960, Ser. No. 36,241 3 Claims. (Cl. 241278) My present invention relates to gardening equipment and more particularly to a leaf pulverizer.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide a device for pulverizing dried leaves to greatly reduce their bulk and facilitate disposal.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a leaf pulverizer which is small enough and portable for use by the average householder.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a leaf pulverizer which is simple in construction and easy and economical to manufacture and assemble.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view my invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and more particularly defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a leaf pulverizer embodying my invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal section thereof.

FIG. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 on FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 on FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is an end view partially broken away of the rear end of the pulverizer.

Each fall falling leaves present a disposal problem to a great many home owners. Many communities do not permit burning. Where there are many trees the falling leaves are a problem even to burn. Most of the problem is due to the great bulk of the leaves. The present invention is designed to provide a simple device for pulverizing dried lease so that they will occupy less than one fifth of their original bulk. In this manner they can be conveniently bagged or burned.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, the pulverizer of the present invention comprises an elongated rectangular housing '10 having an approximately square cross section and being approximately twice as long as the height of one side. The housing may be made of plywood, sheet metal or other similar light material. The top of the housing 10 is provided with a hinged portion 11 having a hopper opening 12 in the forward end. The top portion 11 and the hopper 12 can therefore be swung open on its hinges 13 for inspection or repairs. The bottom of the housing is split longitudinally in two to form drop walls 14 which are hinged at 15 along the side edges for dumping the contents.

The housing 11 should be supported at a sufficient height to permit dumping into a receptacle if necessary and should be readily portable. I therefore provide a pair of spaced brackets "16 at one end having an axle 17 and a pair of wheels 18. At the opposite end the housing is supported by a pair of vertical legs 19 extending downwardly adjacent each side edge and a suitable U- shaped handle 20 extends from each side wall of the housing 10. With this construction the handle 2i can be lifted and the entire pulverizer pushed along on the wheels (18.

At one end of the housing 10, preferably the end adjacent the handle, the interior of the housing is provided with a recess portion 21 having a wall portion 22 spaced from the adjacent housing wall. The wall portion 22 is provided with a central opening 23 slightly smaller in diameter than the width of the housing 10. A pulverizing disc 24 is mounted on a shaft 25 for rotation in the opening 23. The diameter of the disc 24 is just ice barely smaller than the opening 23 to permit free rotation but to prevent the leaves from slipping behind the disc. The shaft 25 extends through the adjacent housing wall and is rotated by an electric motor 26 mounted on a bracket 27 extending from the housing wall. While I have found that a fractional horsepower electric motor is sufiicient for this purpose, a small gasoline powered motor may also'be used. On the face of the pulverizing disc 24 are a plurality, eight shown, of radially mounted cutting knives 28. The cutting knives are preferably mounted at an angle of 45 degrees to the face of the disc in the direction of rotation.

It is contemplated that for best results the leaves should be dry enough to burn. However, green leaves can also be pulverized. It is obvious that the leaves can be dropped into the housing 10 through the hopper 12 and they will be pulverized by the blades 28 on the disc 24. To force the leaves against the rotating blades 28 I rovide the construction shown in FIGS. "2; and 4 at the opposite end of the housing. A rectangular compressor plate 29 is vertically positioned in the housing and of a size to just clear the walls. The plate 29 is held rigidly at each side edge on a slide tongue 30 which is slidably mounted in a groove 31 in the sidewalls of the housing 10. The plate 29 is provided in the center with a pair of brackets 32 in which one end of a lever 33 is pivotally mounted. The lever 33 extends rearwardly through a slot 34 in the end wall. Mounted on the top edge of the housing is a bracket 35 on which a lever 36 is pivotally mounted. One end of the lever 36 is pivoted to the end of the lever 33. As can be seen in FIG. 2 when the lever 36 is manually pivoted into its dotted line position it will push the lever 33 and plate 29 towards the rotating disc 24 to compress the intermediate leaves against the cutting blades 28.

To remove the pulverized leaves the bottom hinged wall sections 14 are held at one end by a pair of rods 37 which are pivoted at one end to brackets 38 extending downwardly from the edge of each section 14. The upper ends of each rod 37 are pivoted to a pivot pin 39 mounted at the end of the horizontal leg 40 of a L- shaped lever. The vertical leg 41 is mounted for vertical sliding through a bracket 42 on the end wall of the housing. A spring pressed lock pin 43 extends through the bracket 42 into an opening in the vertical arm 41 to lock the parts in closed position as shown in FIG. 5. When the lock pin 43 is withdrawn the lever arm 41 drops downwardly permitting the rods 37 to move downwardly and outwardly which in turn permits the sections 14 of the bottom of the housing to swing open and dump the contents. To close the bottom, the lever arm 41 is pulled upwardly back into the position shown in FIG. 5 until the lock pin 43 snaps back into its opening.

The entire mechanism is light and simple and economical to manufacture and assembly. Actual tests have indicated that a small electric motor will reduce the leaves to less than one fifth of their original bulk. The housing 10 may be made sufliciently large to accommodate a bushel basket of leaves. It can be mounted sufficiently high to allow dumping in a receptacle placed beneath the pulverizer. Other advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A leaf pulverizer comprising a rectangular housing having a top, bottom, side walls and end walls, said top having a hinged cover portion and a loading opening, an auxiliary wall portion adjacent one end wall defining .a recess, said auxiliary wall portion having a large annular opening, a power driven shaft extending through said end wall adjacent said recess, a plate mounted on said V shaft in said auxiliary wall opening, said plate having a plurality of radially positioned blades on the front face thereof, said blades being angularly disposed to the surface of said plate in the direction of rotation thereof, and means for pushing leaves in said housing against said rotating plate and blades, the bottom of said housing being hinged to permit dumping of the pulverized leaves.

2. A 'leaf pulverizer comprising a rectangular housing having a top, bottom, side walls and end walls, an auxiliary portion adjacent one end wall defining a recess, .said auxiliary wall portion having a large annular opening, a power driven shaft extending through said end .wall adjacent said recess, a plate mounted on said shaft in said auxiliary wall opening, said plate having a plurality of radially positioned :blades on the front face thereof, said blades being angularly disposed to the surface of said plate "in the direction of rotation thereof, and means for pushing leaves in said housing against said rotating plate and blades, said pushing means comprising a rectangular plate slidably mounted in vertical position in said housing and a manually operable lever for moving said plate toward and away from said rotating plate, said lever having a vertically pivoted portion and a horizontally pivoted portion extending to the center of said plate.

3. A leaf pulverizer comprising a rectangular housing having a top, bottom, side walls and end walls, said tophaving a hinged cover portion and a loading opening, an auxiliary wall portion adjacent one end wall defining a recess, said auxiliary wall portion having a large annular opening, a power driven, shaft extending through said end wall adjacent said recess, a plate mounted on said shaft in said auxiliary wall opening, said plate having a plurality of radially positioned blades on the front face thereof, said blades being angularly disposed to the surface of said plate in the direction of rotation thereof, and means for pushing leaves in said housing against said rotating plate and blades, the bottom of said housing being hinged to permit dumping of the pulverized leaves, said pushing means comprising a rectangular plate slidably mounted in vertical position in said housing and a manually operable lever for moving said plate toward and away from said rotating plate, said lever having a vertically pivoted portion and a horizontally pivoted portion extending to'the center of said plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 3 1,027 Middleton Jan. 1, 1861 179,224 Salmon June 27, 1876 530,652 Reid Dec. 11, 1894 2,075,522 Hughes Mar. 30, 1937 2,525,023 Ensmenger Oct. 10, 1950 2,560,837 Alciati et al. July 17, 1951 2,756,001 Kemp July 24, 1956 

